How local taxpayers might pay for a bigger Vanderburgh County jail and more staff

This month, Indiana Department of Correction told Vanderburgh County officials they must form a plan to address overcrowding and understaffing at the Vanderburgh County Jail.

Vanderburgh County officials still have six months to get a jail plan started, but here are a few ways taxpayers may end up paying for adding more bed space at the county jail.

Income tax increase

Luckily enough for county government, but unluckily for taxpayers, Evansville and Vanderburgh County workers will be taxed 20 percent more on their income in 2018. The City Council-approved tax hike is expected to add more than $4 million into the city's tax revenues and more than $3 million into the county's bank.

The caveat on the new income tax revenue is it must go toward public safety expenses. It's not a one-time payout. The city and county will rake in the money annually, which could make a good source for bond payments or salaries.

The county built a brand new jail in 2005 for $35 million. It pays about $2.3 million a year until 2028 on bond payments for its construction. The $3 million could be enough to cover an expansion or construction of another on-site facility.

The jail is now designed with two X-shaped pods. Each pod holds 256 beds. The county had the option of adding a third pod during its 2005 construction, but county officials didn't do that. If the county had added the third pod then, estimates from 2005 put the cost at an extra $5-$8 million. Recent guesses on how much it'd cost to add a third pod now is $15 million.

Just because the jail is designed to add an extra pod, doesn't mean the county will. It's possible the county would build a square-shaped building in addition to the other county jail, Sheriff Dave Wedding said. 

But according to the Indiana Department of Correction 2017 report, it spend $54.60 per day per inmate at its prisons. That means the state is saving nearly $20 per level 6 inmate.

Several Hoosier sheriffs including Wedding want to see that number increased. If the state increased that per diem from $35 to $50 per inmate, the county would get an extra $550,000 a year from housing state inmates.

Rainy Day Fund

The county also has about $4.9 million in its rainy day fund which could go toward addressing issues at the jail.

Since it's not a re-occurring revenue stream, like the income tax dollars, it likely wouldn't be used for hiring more jail staff, but could work for expanding the current jail or building a second location.